Chapter 514 - 514: Righteousness at Heart, Supposedly

When Kian finished ploughing, he let out a shout and did a Contra somersault, landed, and chained a leg sweep into a straight punch into a jab into a big cheesy grin.

Then he went into a front double bi-glutes, a front glute spread, a side glute, a back double bi-glutes, a back glute spread, a side tri-glutes, and finished with a crab pose!

After that textbook routine, gasps of admiration rose from the onlookers below. The old farmers exclaimed:

"What a mighty lord!"

"What a handsome lord!"

"And so well-preserved for his age!"

Amid the chorus of flattery, Kian walked back home with Hei, very pleased with himself.

After dinner, before the sun had fully set, Hei began teaching his eldest son swordplay.

They stood in the courtyard, each holding an extra-large, extra-long wooden sword. They bowed to each other, squared off, and began hacking away.

Kian sat on the wooden steps picking his teeth, watching father and son spar.

Hei and his son traded blows, and the wooden swords met with dull thok, thok sounds.

They went at it for dozens of exchanges. Neither of them was winded, and both moved very fast.

After one more clash, they each stepped back.

Tarō looked delighted. It was clear he was pleased with his progress. But Hei gave him a lesson:

"The swordsmanship handed down in our Minamoto family since ancient times, the Steel-Heart Iron-Cleaving style, demands that a swordsman temper not only his body, but his heart.

"Your heart must be as hard as steel, so that you need not fear iron!"

He hefted the wooden sword in his hand.

"Your technique is already quite mature, and your movements are fast. But if you faced a real blade, could you hold this same level without any hesitation?"

Young Tarō seemed to have his own views about his father's teaching. Or rather, he thought he was already strong enough.

He puffed out his chest.

"Of course, Father. My heart is as hard as steel!"

At that, Hei set down his wooden sword, went into the main hall, and took down the treasured sword.

He came back into the courtyard, drew it, and pointed its razor-sharp tip at his son.

"Tarō, what about now? Can you still advance and retreat as well as you did with the wooden sword?"

Tarō looked at the gleaming edge and swallowed, but he still said:

"I can!"

Hei shook his head.

"No. You say that because you know I won't hurt you. Whether I hold a real sword or a wooden one makes no difference to you."

Then he looked over at Kian, who was lying under the eaves of the house on the wooden floor, picking his teeth.

"Sir, might I ask you a favour?"

Kian had been watching father and son spar like he was watching a chanbara flick, so of course he knew what Hei wanted.

He kipped up to his feet, walked over, took the treasured sword from Hei, twirled it in a flourish, and pointed the tip at Tarō.

"Come on, Tarō. I'll spar with you. Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

Tarō swallowed. Kian might say that, but Tarō didn't know Kian.

He knew his father well enough to be a hundred percent certain his father would never hurt him.

Kian was a stranger. Who knew how good he really was? Would he end up cutting Tarō with that treasured sword?

Tarō bowed to Kian and said, "Please," but his heart was already in turmoil. He held up his wooden sword and didn't dare attack Kian as freely as he attacked his father.

Kian had a pretty good idea what Hei was trying to teach. He was something of a veteran swordsman himself, and fighting someone with real blades was a terrifying thing.

He was immortal, but back when he'd been cut down by that Aeldari warrior over and over, the pain had still left him in a funk for a long time.

Fortunately he was immortal, and by brute-forcing it with countless lives he'd made it through that hardest stage.

But for ordinary people like Tarō, walking the path of the sword was like attempting a no-death run of Sekiro!

Kian charged straight in, moving almost too fast for the eye to follow.

He swung the long sword one-handed, straight at Tarō's neck!

All Tarō saw was a cold flash of light sweeping toward his throat. In that instant, his head, so full of swordsmanship, went completely blank. Every parry he'd ever practised was gone!

He cried out and jumped back a step.

Then he felt the wooden sword in his hand go light. He looked down. An iron blade rested across his neck, and his wooden sword had been sliced in two!

Tarō stood there, scared stiff, not knowing what to do. His father stood off to the side with his arms crossed and said:

"Your heart must be as hard as steel, so that you need not fear iron. Tarō, your heart wavered. Your training still has a long, hard road ahead."

Kian took the sword away from Tarō's neck and clapped him on the shoulder.

"That'll do. That didn't scare you flat on your back, so you're already pretty good. Maybe your heart's not hard as steel, but it's at least hard as bronze."

With that, Kian walked over to Hei and handed the treasured sword back. As he passed it over, he asked:

"Lord Minamoto, has this sword been handed down in your family?"

Hei took the sword and sheathed it.

"Yes. This sword has been passed down in my family for five generations. It's known as the Steel-Cleaver.

"It's incredibly sharp. It can even cut through weapons made of steel!"

Kian looked at the metal-fitted socket on the hilt and thought, isn't this a damn power sword?

That's right. This katana-shaped weapon of Hei's was a power weapon!

Only the power coupling and the field generator had gone missing. Maybe the power had run out and couldn't be recharged, so those parts had been stripped off to save weight.

Even without its disruption field generator, a power sword was still an incredibly sharp blade, forged from precious alloy steel.

Every power sword had a monomolecular edge. Without the disruption field protecting it, a monomolecular edge would soon chip.

But even chipped, it was still sharper than an ordinary blade.

That made Kian even more curious. What on earth was going on with this world?

This katana-shaped power sword was obviously made by the Imperium of Man.

But Kian had spent days wandering around the village and hadn't seen a single trace of the Imperium.

It was as if something had erased the Imperium's very existence.

Just then, Hei's question pulled Kian out of his thoughts.

"Sir, you handle a sword with great skill. Could it be that you're a swordsman too?"

Kian shook his head. "I'm not a swordsman. I'm a warrior.

"My weapons aren't limited to swords. Anything that kills my enemies, I'm happy to use.

"I don't use swords much. They're not efficient enough at killing."

Hei said, "Some things take different outward forms, but at heart they're the same."

He raised his treasured sword upright.

"We samurai often merge our will with the sword, hoping that our will may be as keen as the blade and cleave through our enemies!

"Though you hold no sword in your hand, sir, you hold one in your heart!

"Though you pay no mind to petty rules and manners, you carry the great righteousness of All Under Heaven in your heart!"

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